Tag Archives: homesteading

Easy Way to Freeze Apple Pie Filling

Pies…oh how I love to eat them, but when it comes to making them, you can count me out. I’m just not a good pie maker at all; my pies usually don’t turn out very pretty. Plus, pie making is just way too time consuming. By the time I peel and chop up the fruit, mix up the dough, roll it out, try to lift it up to put it in the pan, rip it, roll it out again, rip it again, piece it together in the bottom of the pan, roll out the next half, rip it, roll it out, rip it, and finally piece that one together, I’m just so over the pie that I don’t even want to eat it.

So… when I asked my family what they most wanted made from the apples and they all unanimously yelled “PIE!!!”… I was thinking, “wonderful, just wonderful.”
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Easy Veggie and Egg Skillet Meal

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When we started homesteading one of our main goals was to see how much of our own food we could grow and raise. So far we’ve raised hogs, chickens for eggs and meat, goats for milk, two turkeys a year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, grow a large garden and have an apple tree. As time and money allows, we have plans to add grass fed beef, more fruit trees, and a larger variety of vegetables in our garden. Right now every meal we eat has at least one homegrown thing in it, and most meals average at least 50% to 70% homegrown. After all the hard work that goes into growing your own food, it’s very rewarding to sit around the table with the family enjoying it all.
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Easy Pork Chop Meal

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Today I spent a little time in the garden getting some much needed maintenance done. With the weather being cooler and me being busy, I’ve been neglecting the garden lately. There’s a lot of picking to be done out there and I plan to get to it in the next couple days. While I worked in the garden, Miley did some picking and got a nice little bunch of goodies, perfect for supper.
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All Sorts of Ruckus Going On

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If you’ve never had chickens before, I can tell you that they can be very clicky. They form their own little groupies and aren’t too happy to let outsiders in. Usually the groups can coexist okay but there is frequent bickering, squabbling, clucking and complaining that leads to a disturbance with lots of commotion, racket, noise, hubbub… that eventually turns into a full blown ruckus. With as many chickens as we have running around here, it can get pretty noisy.

The spring when Miley was four we got our first chicks. By the middle of the summer, they were almost full grown and free ranging. One day I was outside chatting with her as she played on the swing set. All of a sudden, out by the barn, there was a loud commotion of clucking and squabbling going on.
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Our $600,000 Goat

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One morning Miley and I headed out to do chores. While I went into the barn to set up to milk, Miley went out to the pasture to get her goat, Sweet Pea, and bring her to the barn. I heard her giggling and looked up to see her standing out in the pasture with little Sweet Pea, who was standing on her hind legs and resting her front legs on Miley’s chest. She giggled again and said, “Sweet Pea, that tickles”, as her goat reached up to sniff her face and nibble her hair. We call those goat kisses. Once kisses were done, they both raced to the barn. Miley grabbed a halter, tied her up, and went to get some feed that she carefully measured out into a perfect-for-Sweet Pea sized portion. As her goat nibbled her feed, she brushed her and asked, “Hey Mom, is $600,000 a lot of money?” I told her it is and continued milking while she continued brushing. A few minutes later, Miley giggled again and said, “Hey Sweet Pea, let go of my dress!” Her goat was tugging at the bottom of her dress with her teeth. Miley continued, “Mom, she must be done and ready to go because she keeps pulling on my dress, so I’m going to take her out for a walk now.” I said, “Ok!” As she untied the rope, she asked “Mom, do you think anyone would ever want to buy a goat for $600,000?” I replied, “No, I don’t think they would. That’s an awful lot for a goat.” She said, “Ok, that’s the price I want Sweet Pea to be so that way no one will ever want to buy her.” Aaaaawwww, I thought and before I could say anything, they were out the barn door and off running through the yard.
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